A RPG that had potential to be amazing but didn't make it in my book.
Graphics: Technically, it's hit and miss. Animations both facial and movement wise make the characters look like robots since it seems so unnatural when they walk or show expression. Most of the NPCs look ugly as sin but the credit I give to its visuals is that the draw distance is fantastic and that the framerate often keeps itself steady. Artistically is better since the look of the weapons, armor, Oblivion gates, caves, shrines etc. look quite impressive and it manages to set the medieval look well. Sadly those are more like the small good bits of the design, first of all the majority of the game's environment is only forest so expect to see a ton of green and brown (say for the Shivering Isles). You'll see a little of red, blue, orange but traveling gets boring after the first few levels since hardly anything special happens say for fighting enemies (If it wasn't for the fast travel system, it would be even more boring to travel). In other words, it hardly feels dynamic, once you see one cave or any other area like a shrine, city, it's the same thing say for a few differences with the looks and the design of the area.
Sound: The main theme is epic, voice acting sounds alright though too many voices tend to sound to similar. In game music starts to get annoying after a while and there isn't much of it. The weapons sound allright say for the swords that sound like those plastic light up swords I find in the dollar store. Not a lot to hate or like.
Story: You start off as a prisoner who is told that you are the one to "Shut the jaws of Oblivion" by the king of Tamriel. The king gets assassinated and it's up to you to find a new heir for the throne while you seal Oblivion gates which bring out Daedra that want to kill for reasons x,y, and z. The good part of the story is that you can shape your character to be a hero, killer and all sorts but no matter how you make yourself to be. You still get one ending, so no evil or good endings. It does have its moments but its not something you will remember for life.
Gameplay: Da%$ was this the part that made Oblivion at times so boring and you'll see why later. You start the game with creating your own character and you can choose a race and class which can offer some pros and cons with your stats. Your weapons can be swords, axes, magic, bows and arrows and I think 2 more but they are just the two handed versions for the swords and axes. The first problem I have is how mother@#$! annoying it is to level up. It isn't so bad early on but you have to use the same attribute like repairing, swords, shields, illusion etc. for hours just to raise one point and it's even more annoying when you can only level up when you raise ONLY your primary skills to 10 points each level. Doing so can give you new perks like having 100 or being master of repairing means you will never break a hammer when you repair which is nice but the process is so annoying (the cap for each of these is 100). Also, please tell me why do I need to sleep so I can level up? If you feel that the combat is varied here is how it works, find the enemy, tap R1 over and over until he/she falls dead and use potions when your health is low (you hardly need to maneuver in combat unless you have no more potions which wont happen after reaching level 15). Axes and swords have very few pros and cons but the way you use them to fight is the same. I was also surprised to see hardly any moral choices in coversations since most quests feel like they have one outcome and don't offer any other unless you get lucky and find one. I'm not sure about the other weapons since they are weak early on and I sure as h@# wont grind for those weapons. The biggest gripe I have with Oblivion is the enemy A.I. leveling up with you. This makes you feel the same as the previous 10 levels say for the new armor you get in this game which hardly seems to affect combat. All the weapons you can get in Oblivion can be considered garbage once you find one stronger than the other. There is hardly the one is good in one situation but bad for the other. Quests can either be beaten below 5 minutes or drag on too long while most of them feel ok with no huge surprises. You can join Guilds which offer better quests and can be fun to do (especially the Dark Brotherhood). Though they aren't going to blow your mind, they can be fun. Exploring a certain new location can be fun when the game shows you something new but those are rare bursts of fun. Oblivion has some fun concepts but it just needed more coats of paint.
As for the DLC, do yourself a favor if you want to buy this game. Get the GOTY version since you'll save $30 on it. Both of the DLC however are fun to play though like Oblivion, it wont blow your mind away.
Overall, Oblivion has annoying drawbacks that kill the fun and it's sad to see since this game has 200 plus hours worth of content. If what I said wont bother you much, get the game. Until then, hope Skyrim will fix many or all of these problems.